Art Guide · Painters
Winslow Homer
1836–1910
Winslow Homer (1836–1910) was a leading painter of 19th-century American Realism, known for his scenes of the sea and coast.
Shop Winslow Homer posters Poster prints of these works are in the collection.
Last updated: · Iconica Society editors
Life and work
Born in Boston, he began as an illustrator for Harper’s Weekly and covered the Civil War from the front. He spent his last years at Prouts Neck on the coast of Maine, painting the stormy sea again and again in oil and watercolour.
Breezing Up (A Fair Wind) (1873–76, National Gallery of Art, Washington) shows a man and three boys in a small sailboat heeling in the wind, and is one of the best-loved sea scenes in American painting.
Key works
Shop Winslow Homer posters →Frequently asked questions
Where is Breezing Up?
In the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.